Growing up in this society, it is almost guaranteed that Disney movies were a very large part of our childhood. These movies, whether we realize it or not, shaped the people we became through the underlying messages they taught us. Some of these lessons were more obvious than others, but each one was just as important as the next. Some of the most important lessons I learned from Disney came from the movies Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, and Pocahontas. The things these movies teach are important for children to learn at a very early age.
Beauty and the Beast is the story of a headstrong girl who, in hopes of freeing her father, agrees to stay captive in the castle of the Beast; little does she know, this beast is actually a Prince who was transformed into a beastly creature after he dismisses an ugly witch and refuses to give her shelter. The Beast is told by the Witch that unless he lets love into his heart by the time the last petal of the rose falls he will be trapped in this beastly state. The girl, Belle, is the beasts only hope of learning to love, and in the end they live happily ever after. Though this movie may sound like a simple fable, the lesson behind it is very important; don't judge a book by its cover. Belle looks past the ugly exterior of the beast and is able to fall in love with the kind and gentle soul that lies within.
Peter Pan is about a young girl, Wendy Darling, that gets brought to a magical island along with her two brothers. They are brought there by a boy named Peter Pan, and upon arriving they are met by the inhabitants of the island, the Lost Boys. On the island of Neverland no one ages and they spend their days having fun, playing games and going on impossible adventures. Wendy and her brothers feel at home here, but that all changes when Wendy realizes she can no longer remember the sound of her mother's voice, or what her father looks like; because of this she requests to be brought home. The message this movies is trying to teach is that you should never forget where you belong. As the expression goes, blood is thicker than water, meaning family is the most important thing. You can travel a thousand miles, but when you're ready to come home your family will be the ones waiting with open arms; I feel that this is a lesson all people should learn early on in life.
Lastly, Pocahontas is the story of a young Native American girl who falls for a white man, John Smith, who comes with a group of men in hopes of finding gold in this new land. Pocahontas' tribe, and the european men alike, do not approve of this budding romance because they believe the two are too different and/or dangerous, but Pocahontas and John Smith are able to look past all of this and find love in each other's hearts. Because the two groups fear each other they begin to fight, causing death and destruction, but the two lovers choose to try and make the two groups see they aren't so different after all. The lesson learned from this movie is to never fear each other's differences because though we may look different on the outside we are all the same on the inside. Racism is a huge problem in today's society, so teaching this to boys and girls at a very young age is important.
Though Disney movies are full of knights in shining armor, damsels in distress, adventures and excitement, they are also full of important life lessons that every child should learn. "Don't judge a book by its cover", "Don't forget where you belong", and "Don't fear each other's differences" are only a few of the lessons I have learned from the movies I watched when I was younger, and I know for a fact that they have shaped me into the human being I am today. Boys and girls need to be taught somehow, so why not carry on the tradition of Disney being a large part of childhood.
